A slow paced lachrymose, laconic melodrama   based upon a true story about a grief consumed young woman, played by Claire Foy whose father, played by Brendan gleeson has died and a Goshawk ( in reality two!) . A tale of nature and its redemptive powers told over: 1 hr 55 min.

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The bird , Mabel becomes a metaphor for the woman’s own struggles with anguish and depression. The pace is slow. The narrative is even slower. I did learn that hawks have two stomachs and the difference between a hawk and a falcon. The sixties guitar soundtrack grated.

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Helen Macdonald is a research scholar and teacher at Cambridge’s Jesus College who’s shattered by the news that her beloved father)has suddenly passed away. Endlessly curious about the world and always seeking knowledge, Helen’s dad has been a guiding light for her. Trying to contain her grief, Helen decides to again take up falconry – which she practiced for years when she was younger – and train one of the most difficult birds to master, a European Goshawk. Supporting actor Denise Hough is hotter than an Australian bush fire as her friend Christina. The make up and wardrobe crew had virtually nothing to do.

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After purchasing a Goshawk from a Scottish breeder, Helen devotes all of her time and life to training the bird, which she names Mabel. Their relationship is difficult at first, but even as she successfully earns the hawk’s trust and trains it, Helen’s own life falls into deep disrepair: she grows distant from her family and friends, her house – which she’s expected to leave when her current term with Cambridge ends – becomes unkempt and untidy, and she ignores her work and even the writing of a eulogy for her father’s memorial service.

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The training, hunting and flying sequences are majestic courtesy of cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen. Helens’  bond with Mabel leads her to become more feral herself, threatening to overwhelm the rest of her life. The resolution is a little twee but nonetheless satisfactorily wraps up a deeply moving tale of mankind and nature.